Hey. I am curious about the beliefs of different denominations, and since I don't know anything about catholicism, I would like to ask some questions. These are serious questions, so I'd like serious answers...
You got it; serious! (It's actually the only way I know to answer questions about my faith.)
Why do Catholics pray to Mary and the saints and venerate them? God's answered many of my prayers and done miracles in my life, and He sent His Son to die. So I worship Him, and since Christ gave us authority to approach God and bring our petitions to Him, I pray to God also. But saints have never done anything for me. Even if I prayed to them, are they omniscient like God? How could they hear us down here?
First I'd like to say; there are 2.5 BILLION people in the world today who claim to be Catholic. With that many people all making the claim, and with our faith having been around for over 2,000 yrs, I hope you'll think it's reasonable to expect that there will be Catholics in many varying degrees of knowledge regarding our faith. Not to mention people who claim to be Catholic, but behave in any way, BUT Catholic!! (If they aren't acting like Jesus, they aren't acting like a Catholic.)
My two fellow Catholics have given pretty good answers to your questions, and I think they covered the 1st. two areas pretty well. 'Thecolorsblend' covered the explanation of this very well. I would like to add though, that I find Protestant faiths often think that Catholics are "worshiping" the saints by 'praying' to them. The confusion is in the word itself. In a faith as old as ours, there are bound to be holdover words from other eras; and 'pray' is one of them. We use it to simply mean, "talk"; as in the old English, "pray thee, do you know what time it is?" My fellow Catholic then explained well the rest of it. But, of course, when asking someone to pray for you, you'd certainly want someone who was very strong in their faith. Who stronger in their faith in Our Lord, then His blessed mother?
Why do Catholics think only they are the body, when other Christians believe and have faith in Christ, which the bible says justifies us and baptizes us into His body? I always understood salvation as being by faith, not by club membership.
Again, my fellow Catholics did a fine job with their answers on this. Please consider uniting with us, since the Lord prayed, ..."Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one." (Jn 17;11). I have spent the last 7 yrs studying the history of the Christian Church, and although it isn't the inspired word of God, it does tell us what the apostles were doing and teaching. Plus, the added benefit of reading the writings of followers of the apostles, who give a first hand account of what the apostle John was teaching in the churches; while John was still ALIVE, and able to refute it if it were wrong! Since neither John, nor any of the other notable members of the early church, speak against these writings; and at times even recommend them to be read in the churches, we can feel very comfortable knowing that these writings are reliable. (I recommend reading, 'Eusebius, The History of the Church'; or any of a 3 volume set of writings called, 'The Early Church Fathers' (volumes 1 - 3), edited by William A. Jurgens.
What do Catholics think about "charismatic" things, like baptism of the Holy Spirit as a separate experience from salvation, the Spirit's administration of spiritual gifts, etc.? I've seen miracles and healings too often to be able to deny them.
I think that I might be the most helpful here, since I was a part of the Charasmatic Catholic renewal/resurgence in our faith in the 70's. Something that still continues to this day.
Yes, the Catholic Church believes in ALL of the spiritual gifts. Those that are more common, such as administration or hospitality, and those that are less common, such as speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, prophesy, etc. We refer to these less common gifts as 'charisms'; and realize that not everybody will have these more unique gifts, but that the Holy Spirit gives them to whomever He delights to, for the building up of the body of believers, His church.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is given during the Sacrament of Confirmation, just as it was done in the Bible. The bishop calls down the Holy Spirit upon the candidates through the "laying on of hands". As I'm sure you're already aware, some people experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit early on, and it takes others longer to realize what their particular gift may be. This will largely depend on the continued education and practicing of the faith of the individual. Just as in the parable of the Sower, in (Mt 13;1-9), some seed falls on rocky ground, springs up immediately, but then is scorched and dies, or is choked out by the thorns, and some seed falls on good soil, and brings forth grain, ..."
I would truly encourage you to read the writings of the early Christians! I have a library of writings that take up forty books! These are writings before the year 350 or so! It's way before any splits ever occurred and it's great just to see the explanations of the texts of the Bible! I really think if we could get all Christians to read these writings that we would all truly unite as one Church, just as Jesus intended us to be; one body, one faith, one baptism.
I would like to encourage you to continue to ask questions. In my opinion, I think that the Church that Jesus started is the church that we should want to belong to. For He promised that the "gates of Hell" shall not overcome her! If Jesus is our God, then that church is still alive and present, and has NEVER disappeared! The Catholic Church is the ONLY Church that has never changed one doctrine of our faith. NOT ONE!!
We may change disciplines, which, just as you have rules to raise your children; so the church has rules put in place for the building up of the children of God. These may change over time, depending what is needed. But they are given for the purpose of drawing God's children closer to him.
Any help would be cool.
